288 SHORE BIRDS 



cabin on a little creek, a short distance from the bay, 

 good boats, plenty of decoys and was thoroughly fam- 

 iliar with every inch of the ground. Of course, after 

 spending some weeks with this obliging and capable 

 man I was able to go out alone on the bay, knowing 

 well every likely place for birds. 



Although I regard the shooting of bay birds as 

 the least interesting of all field-shooting, I have spent 

 many pleasant days so engaged ; and when the day is 

 fine and the flight good, the sport furnishes excite- 

 ment enough of a pleasurable kind, and a bag of birds, 

 good, bad, and indifferent ; their value depending much 

 upon their food, and many of them too small and insig- 

 nificant as marks to be worthy of a sportsman's notice. 



The method of pursuit at all seasons is the same. 

 When the tide begins to flow the sportsman sets forth 

 for the shooting ground at the margin of some bay or 

 pond, accompanied usually by a professional market 

 gunner or bayman, who sails the boat, puts out the 

 decoys, constructs the blind or hide, and, in fact, does 

 all the work. 



The blind is constructed of sea-weed, sedge, or 

 bushes ; sometimes a group of small evergreen trees, 

 stuck in the mud, at a favorite place and left standing, 

 so that the birds may become familiar with them. 

 Often a box is sunk in the mud or sand with a fringe 

 of sea-weed or marsh grass about it, further to conceal 

 it. This is the best form of blind, so far as deception is 

 concerned, but it is decidedly tiresome, lying down in 

 a narrow box for hours at a time, especially if the flight 

 is not good. The decoys, wooden or tin images, 

 painted to represent the more common varieties of 



